1. Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to a Smartcard reader. In particular, the present disclosure is directed to a connector for a multilevel Smartcard reader.
2. Description of the Related Art
As more and more smartcards are deployed into the population, smartcards readers have generally become ubiquitous in a variety of electronic devices, portable or not. A smartcard, also known as a chip card or an IC card, refers to a card with dimensions similar to that of a credit card or a driver's license that houses an embedded circuit capable of providing identification, authentication, data storage, or applications. Certain signals of the embedded circuit are generally brought to the surface of the smartcard through a number of contact pads. When inserted into a smartcard reader, these contact pads provide electrical connectivity between the embedded circuit in the smartcard and the electronic device in which the smartcard reader resides.
To effect the electrical connection between the smartcard and the host, a connector is employed in the smartcard reader to serve as the interface. The reader requires a physical connection to the smartcard that is made by inserting the card into the reader. Two known technologies of insertion are (1) “sliding” contact technology and (2) “landing” contact technology. In general, a sliding contact technology requires a “swipe” of the card to register the data on the card, thus providing convenience, while a landing contact technology requires the card to be placed completely inside the reader before data can be registered.
Current smartcards conform to ISO/IEC standards. While ISO 7810 standardizes the outer dimension of a smartcard, or the card “envelope,” ISO 7816 standardizes the location and signal connectivity of the smartcard's contact pads. Eight contact pads are provided in the ISO 7816 standard, six of them are defined: VCC, GND, Reset, Clock, Vpp, Serial Data I/O, while two are Reserved for Future Use, RFU1 and RFU2.